Starting Chemo January/February 2025
Let's all join together here for support 😍
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Starting chemo in a couple weeks. I think T/C is what I'm having (if I understand the abbreviations correctly).
Getting this started with my oncologist's office has been the worst. Originally, I thought I wasn't going to need chemo. Then she said test results showed it could lower the risk of recurrence, although I'm still not clear on how much it will lower it. She was going to run it by colleagues to get a consensus then let me know. They set me up for a phone appointment a few days later. She called two hours before that time while I was away from my desk at work. Left a message saying I should do the chemo and I could start in a week. I called back and left a message with staff saying that was too soon, I needed time to process, etc. A week later I still hadn't gotten a call back. I left another message. Nothing. Finally, I decided just to call the office and say I needed to set up an appointment to start chemo. So now I'm on the books. But I'm still not confident with the way this all rolled out.
I want to try cold capping so I'm going in to take care of all that (whatever that means) a week before my appointment date. The person who scheduled me was concerned that was too close to the date, so if she's right, I'll have to decide whether to forego cold capping or delay my chemo further.
I can't help but think providing a simple one page "where do I go from here" handout that they give you could alleviate a lot of stress around this process. I guess the good part is I've been so busy dealing with the administrative nonsense, I haven't started thinking about the realities of the treatment yet.
Maybe this is typical but I sure hope not!
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Hi everyone, just want to introduce myself to this group. I technically started chemo in December 2024 but there isn't a thread for that month. I'm on Fluorouracil, Epirubicin, and Cytoxan every 3 weeks. I've had 2 rounds so far. The first round was quite rough but they tweaked my anti-emetics and other supportive medicines and this round has been better. I switch to Doxcetaxel (Taxotere) after my next round and am interested in seeing how the side effects change between regimes.
@bonkster I can't figure out how to reply to your post but I'm so sorry you have had such an awful experience with your cancer centre. I know there are some great resources on this forum about different regimes and even though we're on different ones I'd be happy to share my experience if you have questions. I participated in a virtual support group run by breastcancer.org for those in treatment this week and the moderators shared some great links about different treatments - here are the ones for TC if you want to take a look:
Looking forward to connecting and sharing experiences 😊
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Starting chemo January 27th. AC dose dense... 4 treatments, 1 every 2 weeks, followed by taxol every week for 12 weeks. Already had double mastectomy with tissue expanders December 20. 3mm mucinous adenmocarcinoma in left breast and 6mm triple negative IDC in right breast. No lymph node involvement.
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@daisysmum thank you for the links! I'll look them over this weekend.
To add to it, they apparently didn't provide all the info needed for my cold cap so now I'm worried I won't get that in time!
When I asked what to bring for my first session, they said whatever I want 🤣 so I appreciate you giving me some direction.
I hope the switch goes smoothly for you.
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Hi I just met with my breast surgeon and we discussed that I am in the range where they would advise chemo - I had DCIS and lumpectomy last month, was feeling good until this news. I meet with the chemo/medical oncologist and I am not sure, if there are questions I need ask her - will she be giving me options to choose from? Also I am pre-menopausal and I understand this will kick me into menopause so appreciate advice on that (I'm 49, was approaching that point anyway most likely). I am sure some of this is on the site so I would appreciate any links to relevant info too. Thanks all!
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Hi @bonkster and @daisysmum welcome to our community, thank you for sharing your experiences. Adding these resources on cold caps ♥️
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@heavans I'm sitting in the chair now wrapping up my first treatment. So far it hasn't been horrible, but I'll let you know over the next week.
I doubt you will get options. My big question was how much cancer would lower my risk on recurrence. The numbers can be hard to understand. As my surgeon advised, it's not enough to hear it will lower it by 50% you need to know 50% of what. Like if you're risk of recurrence is 10% then lowering it by 50% means you've actually dropped your risk 5%. Is that worth it to you?
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